el chaupi

Today is day 4 in El Chaupi and so far it is the only day that it has not rained since we have been here. The mornings are beautiful, but it has rained every day from around 12 to 6. Despite the dreary weather, we have been able to get out among the people of the community and God has really been opening doors wide open for his gospel to be presented. Thanks to your prayers, we are being welcomed openly among the people here and will begin a Bible Study in the hostal where we are staying on Thursday night. We are also ministering in the clinic, the daycare, the girls school, the local elementary school, and will soon begin English classes twice a week. So far the people here have been quite receptive to the message that is being presented to them.. They´re so hungry for more. Please pray that we will be able to effectively communicate the Gospel to them in Spanish and answer questions that they may have.

Let me tell you a little bit about our experience in El Chaupi so far... We are staying in a quaint little hostal called the NiñaRumy which is situated right inside the entrance to the town. The hostal owners (Mirian and Boanerges) are a wonderful family who have really taken us in and cared for us for the past few days... and Mirian is a wonderful cook. We are in a valley of 4 beautiful volcanoes, one of which I have yet to see all of because of dense clouds. In addition to the volcanoes, farm land surrounds us. Dogs, cats, cows, horses, chickens, sheep, and alpacas roam freely in the streets. Just think of it as an Ecuadorian Mayberry. Haha :) This was a little bit of a culture shock at first, so my camera is filled with pictures of farm life. I think that the initial shock of so many animals has worn off by now, as it is just a part of daily life here. For the past 3 mornings, I have been awakened by a confused rooster. For those of you who thought, like I did, that roosters only crow when the sun comes up, we are definitely mistaken. This particular rooster begins crowing around 2:30am and crows throughout the morning. Even though we're fairly close to the Equator, the weather is quite chilly... especially at night.

There is much more that I could tell you, but I am currently restricted on time. To sum things up, Ecuador has been an amazing experience so far, and God is already causing us to grow and stretch beyond our expectations. He has a unique way of doing that. We are excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us in El Chaupi for the next 3 1/2 weeks. I will try to send a more specific update later this week, but please keep the prayers coming! We can definitely feel the presence of the Lord here in El Chaupi!

Here are some more specific prayer requests:

··Please pray for people in El Chaupi to be curious and that God´s word will speak truth into their lives. Pray that in this predominately Catholic culture, they will know that they can pray to God on their own without a priest. Pray that God will send others into their lives to disciple them and take them one step further toward the truth.
··Please pray that the Lord will burden hearts for this community and surrounding communities and that people will step up to partner with us in the ministry here so that they can continue the work when we are gone.
··Please pray for our team to draw strength from God as we strive to be obedient in ministering to the people of El Chaupi during this time of new experiences.

Te quiero todos!